Retirement Calculator
What your savings grow to by the time you stop working, what they then have to pay for, and whether they last as long as you plan to.
The address carries whatever you changed, so anyone opening it sees these numbers. Nothing is saved on our side.
Savings at 65
$2,007,255
That lasts to 90 with $1,596,124 left over. The first year draws 3.8% of the balance.
- $956,944
- After 2.5% inflation
- $486,817
- $75,512
- 3.8% of the balance
- It does not
- $1,596,124
- $630
- To last to your plan age
Building the balance
Every year until you retire, split into the money you paid in and the growth on top of it.
Age
From year 51 onward the account holds more growth than money paid into it.
Spending it down
What is left at the end of each year of retirement, after that year's withdrawal. Withdrawals rise with inflation, so the same standard of living costs more every year.
| Age | Withdrawn | Balance |
|---|---|---|
| 70 | $83,352 | $2,059,196 |
| 75 | $94,305 | $2,065,814 |
| 80 | $106,697 | $2,008,315 |
| 85 | $120,718 | $1,862,276 |
| 90 | $136,581 | $1,596,124 |
How this calculator works
Two phases, run month by month rather than through a single formula, because the rules change at retirement.
While you are saving
Each month the balance grows at the pre-retirement return and the contribution is added. Contributions rise once a year by whatever you set, tracking a rising income.
Once you have retired
Each month the balance grows at the post-retirement return, then the month’s income is withdrawn. The withdrawal is your desired income less your other income, inflated from today to the year it is actually spent — so the same standard of living costs more every year.
The balance floors at zero rather than going negative, and the age it first hits zero is reported as the depletion age. The required contribution is found by bisection: the ending balance rises with the contribution, so halving a bracket from $0 to $100,000 a month always converges on the smallest amount that lasts.
What is assumed
- Constant returns. Real markets are not constant, and the order returns arrive in changes the outcome for anyone spending the money down.
- No tax, on contributions or withdrawals.
- No required minimum distributions, and no lump sums in or out.
- Other income keeps pace with inflation, exactly as your desired income does.
A worked example
Age 35, retiring at 65, planning to 90. $75,000 saved, $1,000 a month rising 2% a year, 7% before retirement and 4.5% after, 2.5% inflation, wanting $60,000 a year with $24,000 coming from elsewhere.
| Saved by 65 | Contributions plus growth |
|---|---|
| In today's money | After 2.5% inflation for 30 years |
| Paid in over 30 years | $1,000 a month, rising 2% a year |
| First year's withdrawal | $36,000 of today's money, inflated 30 years |
| That as a share of the balance | 75,512 ÷ 2,007,255 |
| Left at 90 | After twenty-five years of withdrawals |
This plan works, and the reason is the $24,000 of other income. Remove it and the first year’s withdrawal jumps to $125,854 — a 6.27% draw on the balance rather than 3.76% — and the money runs out at age 85, five years short of the plan.
Note how much of the balance is growth rather than saving: $486,817 went in over thirty years and $2,007,255 came out. That ratio is what a long horizon buys, and it is why the retirement age moves the answer more than almost any other input here.
Questions people ask
Because inventing one would be worse than asking. A benefit depends on your full earnings history, the age you claim, and rules that change. The Social Security Administration publishes your personal estimate in your own account at ssa.gov — that figure is right for you in a way that no formula here could be. Enter it in today's dollars, along with any pension or rental income.
Usually lower than before. Portfolios generally shift toward bonds and cash as the money starts being spent, because a 30% drawdown matters far more when you are selling than when you are buying. The two rates are separate fields for exactly this reason. Whatever you choose, both should be net of fees.
No, and deliberately. You tell the calculator what income you want and it reports what percentage of the balance that first year's withdrawal is — which you can compare to 4% if you find that guideline useful. The rule came from a specific study of historical US returns over 30-year retirements; it is a reference point, not a law, and it does not adapt to your return assumptions or your planning age.
It is the risk that poor returns arrive early in retirement, while the balance is at its largest and withdrawals are eating into it. Two retirements with identical average returns can end very differently depending on the order those returns came in. This calculator uses one constant rate, so it does not capture that at all — which is the single biggest gap between a projection like this and a real retirement.
No. Withdrawals from a traditional 401(k) or IRA are taxable income; withdrawals from a Roth generally are not; a taxable brokerage account is somewhere in between. Enter the income you want after tax, and treat the balance as pre-tax if it is in a traditional account — the money you can actually spend from it will be less than the number shown.
The calculator says so, and names the age. It does not let the balance go negative or quietly keep paying out, because a projection that hides a shortfall is worse than useless. The required monthly contribution shown beside it is the amount that would close the gap, solved for your other inputs.
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A projection at constant rates, not advice and not a forecast. It models no tax, no market volatility, and no change in your circumstances.